• Northern Ireland's famed murals take a more peaceful tone

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A mural in the Bogside area of Derry depicts Operation Motorman, a 1972 British army operation aimed at reclaiming "no-go areas" in the city from the IRA.

    The story of Northern Ireland's troubled history has long been told in painted murals on the walls of its cities, towns and villages. But as Cathal McNaughton explains in a post on Reuters' Photographers Blog, the images commemorating ancient battles and honoring paramilitary groups are now being joined by paintings celebrating sporting successes and cultural achievements.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A mural in the Bogside area of Derry depicts a petrol bomber during the Battle of the Bogside which took place in 1969 between residents of the area and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A mural in the Bogside area of Derry commemorates the beginning of the struggle for democratic rights.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    People walk past a Loyalist paramilitary mural in the Shankill Road area of West Belfast.

    By Cathal McNaughton, Reuters

    A 15-foot-high mural of a gunman dressed in army fatigues and a balaclava clutching an AK-47 is painted on the wall of a house in a residential street. People walk by and don't even notice it.

    In other parts of the UK and Ireland there would probably be outrage, but not in Northern Ireland, where young children happily play on streets in front of a backdrop of politically-charged street art commemorating the violence and bloodshed of 'The Troubles'.

    These murals have become street wallpaper for the people living in this small corner of Europe, who appear to barely bat an eyelid at a gory depiction of a skeleton crawling over dead bodies that adorns the end wall of a house on their street.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A man checks his cellphone beside a loyalist paramilitary mural in the Waterside area of Derry.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    Pigeons fly past a mural in the Shankill Road area of West Belfast depicting a Gaelic myth about the claiming of Ulster.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A mural shows tributes to Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the Shankill Road in West Belfast.

    Most of the murals promote either Republican or Loyalist political beliefs. They often glorify paramilitary groups such as the IRA or the Ulster Volunteer Force with a roll call of the dead written large "lest we forget".

    However since the paramilitary ceasefires of the 1990s, this distinctively Northern Irish artwork has seen a shift in tone. New murals have sprung up depicting local heroes like golfer Rory McIlroy, who represent the changing face of the province's political landscape.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    Golfer Rory McIlroy, who hails from County Down, is pictured on a wall in the Holylands area of Belfast.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A mural in the village of Cushendall in north Antrim commemorates 100 years of the local Gaelic Athletic Club.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A mural features Irish boxer Michael Conlan winning a bronze medal in the flyweight division at the 2012 Summer Olympics on a wall in the Falls Road area of West Belfast.

    It would be nice to think that one day there will be no need to paint any more murals to commemorate new victims of Northern Ireland's troubled history. But with the annual marching season fast approaching, and following the most sustained period of rioting for years, I think there may well be a few more turns in this journey yet — and fresh paint on the wall.

    Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

    Editor's note: Images taken between Feb. 19 and Feb. 23, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

    Related:

    Belfast 'Peace Wall' still separates Catholics, Protestants

    A historic handshake, a historic image in Northern Ireland's peace process

    Outside the Frame: Journalists under fire in Belfast riot

  • Belfast 'Peace Wall' still separates Catholics, Protestants

    Cathal Mcnaughton / Reuters

    A section of the 'Peace Wall' that divides Catholic and Protestant communities runs along Alliance Avenue, north Belfast on Nov. 6.

    Cathal Mcnaughton / Reuters

    William Boyd, Protestant, poses for a picture at the side of his house in Cluan Place in east Belfast on Oct 27. When asked would he like to see the 'Peace Wall' that divides Catholic and Protestant communities taken down, Boyd replied, "It should be left the way it is. Why would they want to pull down these walls?"

    Cathal Mcnaughton / Reuters

    A section of the 'Peace Wall' that divides Catholic and Protestant communities runs along Cupar Way in west Belfast.

    A so-called 'Peace Wall' has separated Catholic and Protestant communities in Belfast since 1969. The barriers were built following the Northern Ireland riots and the start of the conflict that is known as "The Troubles." They were built as temporary structures meant to last only six months, but they have multiplied over the years, from 18 in the early 1990s to 40 today and in total they now stretch over 13 miles.   

    Photographer Cathal McNaughton photographed sections of the wall and gained rare access to communities living on either side. In interviews with the residents he found that despite living in houses effectively caged in by a towering 20 foot high wall, these people do not want the wall to be taken down.

    They live in fortress-like houses surrounded by metal fencing and barricades with an ever present symbol of their troubled past looming overhead. But to these communities - who live under the fear of attack every day - the wall is a necessary form of protection that they would not live without.

    Read McNaughton's blog, 'A barrier to peace' at reuters.com.

    Jean McAnoy, Roman Catholic, a care worker, poses for a picture in the back garden of her home in Bombay Street, west Belfast on Oct. 18. When asked would she like to see the 'Peace Wall' taken down, Foster replied, ""No way. I would like it kept the way it is."

    Sonya Foster, Protestant, a care worker, poses for a picture in the back garden of her home in the Glenbryn area of Belfast on Oct. 27. When asked would she like to see the peace wall that divides Catholic and Protestant communities taken down, Foster replied, "Not now but in the future maybe. It would be nice to see it down."

    Stephen McGarry, Roman Catholic, poses for a picture in the back garden of his home on Clonard Street in west Belfast on Oct. 17. When asked would he like to see the Peace Wall taken down, McGarry replied, "It never should be taken down. But mum would love to see holes in it to let the light through."

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  • Experiencing a bit of 'Alice in Wonderland' at the new museum in Belfast

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A visitor looks at a monumental sculpture by artist Robert Therrien in the newly opened Metropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast April 23.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    Visitors look at a monumental sculpture by artist Robert Therrien in the newly opened Metropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 23,.

    Slideshow: Titanic Belfast

    David Moir / Reuters

    The Titanic Belfast Experience is a new visitor attraction location in Belfast's Titanic Quarter, on the original site of the Harland and Wolff shipyard -  birthplace of RMS Titanic.

    Launch slideshow

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

     In Belfast, Northern Ireland, two new buildings have recently opened that they hope will draw tourists. The latest one is the Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC) which houses this exhibit, Table and Four Chairs by Chicago-born artist Robert Therrien. The artist is known for his monumental sculptures which transform everyday objects into something more. This dining room set is nearly ten feet high and makes me think of Alice in Wonderland.

    A few weeks ago the Belfast Titanic opened nearby. You can see more photos in our slideshow at left.

  • Belfast museum offers a glimpse onboard the Titanic

    Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

    Visitors look down on a projection showing images of the wreck of the Titanic on the seabed at the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction on March 27 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

    Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

    Computer video projections of a passenger and a crew member are displayed in a recreation of a first class cabin at the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction on March 27, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Titanic Belfast Experience is a new £90 million visitor attraction opening on March 31, 2012.

    Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

    Visitors walk through the atrium of the Belfast Titanic visitor attraction on March 27, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The panels lining the walls of the atrium are the same size and texture as those fitted to the hull of the ship.

    Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

    A recreation of the Harland and Wolff shipyard is dominated by a large computer generated image at the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction on March 27, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Titanic Belfast Experience is a new £90 million visitor attraction opening on March 31, 2012. One hundred years ago the maiden voyage of the ill-fated passenger liner Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic on the night of April 14, 1911 with the loss of 1517 lives.

    David Moir / Reuters

    An exterior view shows The Titanic Belfast building in Belfast, Northern Ireland March 27. The six-floor building which opens in April, will tell the story of the Titanic from the ship's construction in Belfast to her sinking in the Atlantic on her maiden voyage one hundred years ago.

     

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  • Take a look inside the Titanic Belfast attraction

    Peter MacDiarmid / Getty Images

    The Titanic Belfast attraction nears completion in The Titanic Quarter on March 13 in Belfast. Belfast's Titanic Quarter is a regeneration area on the original site of the Harland and Wolff shipyard - birthplace of RMS Titanic.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    A model-like sculpture of the Titanic on display at the new Titanic Belfast Visitor's Center.

    Northern Ireland's capital, Belfast, scarred by 30 years of Catholic-Protestant violence and mired in Europe's economic doldrums, is gambling on a gleaming new Titanic tourist attraction to bring it fame beyond the Troubles — and a renewed sense of civic pride.

    "What happened to the Titanic was a disaster," said Tim Husbands, chief executive of Titanic Belfast, a 100 million pound ($160 million) visitor attraction due to open March 31, in advance of the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking. "But the ship wasn't."

    Belfast is banking on the global reach of the Titanic name, a fame given new momentum by James Cameron's hit 1997 movie, which set Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio's star-crossed love story aboard the doomed liner.

    -- The Associated Press

    Related link:

    Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

    An employee of The Titanic Belfast attraction stands in front of screens showing computer generated images of a restaurant on The Titanic on March 13.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    A replica of the the famous staircase onboard the Titanic is on display in the new Titanic Belfast Visitor's Center.

    Peter MacDiarmid / Getty Images

    A visitor takes a phone picture of the slipway at the Titanic Belfast attraction on March 13.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    Brett Irwin of the Public Record Office moves old plans of Harland and Wolff ships from the 19th century in the Titanic Drawing Offices.

    Peter Muhly / AFP - Getty Images

    A Titanic related mural is pictured near a Loyalist paramilitary mural in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 13.

  • Nationalists riot after parades by pro-British Protestants in Northern Ireland

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    A Nationalist youth throws a flaming beer bottle at police in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast on July 12. Twenty-two police were injured when Irish nationalists rioted in Northern Ireland overnight, burning cars and firing petrol bombs to protest annual marches by pro-British Protestant groups.

    Colm O'reilly / AP

    A car is set alight on the Crumlin Road as a large crowd of Nationalists threw bombs at police during the rioting in Belfast on July 12.

    Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

    Nationalist youths and police in riot gear clash in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast on July 12. Police firing plastic bullets and powerful water cannons forced Catholic militants away from a key Belfast road Tuesday as Northern Ireland's annual day of Protestant marches reached a tense climax. Catholic youths lashed out at police both before and after the marches by the Orange Order, a Protestant brotherhood whose yearly July 12 demonstrations celebrate 17th-century military triumphs over Catholics — and often inspire a violent response from the province's minority.

    Stephen Wilson / AFP - Getty Images

    Nationalist youths throw rocks and bombs at police in Belfast on July 12.

    Related links:

  • Loyalists celebrate the Twelfth of July in Belfast, Northern Ireland

    Stephen Wilson / AFP - Getty Images

    Children play around a bonfire lit in the shadow of the a shipyard to celebrate the start of the loyalist Twelfth of July Celebrations in Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 11. Bonfires are traditionally lit in protestant areas on July 11 to mark the start of the Twelfth Celebrations. Later in the evening, other Nationalist areas saw intence rioting and petrol bombing of police.

    Read more about the riots here.

    More than 20 police officers were hurt in clashes with July 12 revelers in Northern Ireland. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.

  • Outside the Frame: Journalists under fire in Belfast riot

    The AP reports from BELFAST, Northern Ireland:

    A British news photographer was shot in the leg as hundreds of masked youths hurled bricks, bottles and gasoline bombs during a second night of sectarian violence at a Catholic-Protestant flashpoint in Belfast.

    The Press Association agency said Wednesday that the photographer suffered a leg injury and was in stable condition at Royal Victoria Hospital. The agency did not release the name of the photographer. Continue reading.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    Loyalist rioters attack a police vehicle in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 21. Northern Ireland police faced a second night of attacks from rioters in east Belfast Tuesday, where sectarian rioting saw two people shot and homes attacked with gasoline bombs the previous night.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    Loyalist rioters throw molotov cocktails towards the mainly Catholic Short Strand area of East Belfast on June 21.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    A police officer looks on as a molotov cocktail lands in East Belfast in the early hours of June 22.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    A police officer puts a bandage on a press photographer's leg after he was shot by a rioter in East Belfast in the early hours of June 22.

    Update, 12.10 PM ET: AP photographer Peter Morrison describes the events of Tuesday night:

    It was a chaotic scene last night in east Belfast, where Catholics and Protestants were throwing stones and fire bombs and police were trying to separate them. Police warned me and fellow journalists to be careful — they heard there was a gunman around. A little later, I heard a rustling at the “peace wall” that separates the neighborhood’s two communities, and I saw a hand with a surgical glove fire four shots directly at us. One photographer was hit in the back of the leg. (He’s in stable condition at a hospital now.)

    I was worried about my safety during all this, of course — but more afterward than when I was in the thick of it. I was born and raised in Belfast, and as a photographer, I cover this sort of thing quite a lot. The violence tends to spill over in the weeks leading up to July 12, a divisive holiday when tens of thousands of Protestants from the Orange Order brotherhood march across Northern Ireland. That’s what happened last night, and it was pretty intense, and also noisy — a lot of fireworks, dozens of fire bombs, dozens of bricks, bottles and paint bombs. Of course, that’s normally what happens in a riot here.

    Police in Northern Ireland are blaming the loyalist military group the Ulster Volunteer Force for a second night of serious violence on the streets of Belfast. ITV's Geraint Vincent reports from Belfast.